Life is a Roller Coaster...

I have been silent for some time on purpose.  Some things had been up in the air and there was no point in putting all of you through the same crazy roller coaster I was going through until there were answers or completion.

Sadly, neither of those things have come to fruition so I'm just gonna put it all out there and know that it could be some time before one of those two events above happen (answers or completion).

Within a few weeks after Jared signed up for the Marines and had his date of when he would be going to boot camp he found love.

Her name is Suzy and she is wonderful!  She is sweet, kind, intelligent, respectful, thoughtful and very cute!  All-in-all I think she is an awesome addition to Jared's life, and ours occasionally.

There may be some of you out there that are going "uh oh"... and that would be the right response.

Now Jared has changed his mind and does not want to join the Marines. Welcome to the mind and heart of an 18 year old "adult". HA!

It was difficult enough to wrap my mind, and my heart, around his decision to join the Marines and then I sit there after he makes that announcement having to say the following words that I never thought I would have to say, "Maybe you should follow through on your commitment and give it a shot.  Besides, I don't think you can 'quit' once you've signed the paperwork."

He went ahead and talked to his recruiter, who is skilled at such things.  My new joke, which really isn't that funny, except in my mind is, "What is the most stubborn thing on the planet?  A Marine."  The recruiter did give Jared 3 options, but Jared could only remember the specifics on 2 of them, not quite remembering the words he used for the 3rd one.  Here they are:

1. Delay your boot camp until after the holidays.  So start in the new year.
2. Change from enlisted to reserves (with, or without a delay in the boot camp).
3. Jared does not remember his words but the interpretation in his mind was that he could quit.

The recruiter told Jared to go home and take some time to think things through and that he would talk with him in a couple of weeks.

Well, the couple of weeks came and went...and Jared has been spending most of his time with Suzy at her college down in South Carolina (anywhere from 3-5 days a week).  And he still wants to quit... I know, shocking!?!

So he went back to talk with the recruiter who asked him again.  Jared told him he wants to quit.  The Sergeant said no, he won't let him.  That he needs more time to think.   So more time has passed and he went back again and spoke to someone "higher up" in the recruiting center who told Jared he won't let him quit but he will switch him over to the Reserves.

And that, my good people, is where we are at.

Jared is understandably upset and at a loss as to what to do.  We, Shannon and I, are at a loss on what to tell him other than what we think.  Jared does not seem to like our answer, but, we keep saying it in different ways - hoping that it might sink in at some point.

Our answer is - switch to the reserves.  There was some part of him that really wanted to be a Marine, and probably still does underneath it all.  It's less of a commitment then enlisted and they still help pay for some college, but not all college.  Then when he's not "being a Marine" he can have a part time job and go to the community college nearby to get some of the basic classes out of the way and still have free time to visit with Suzy and hang out with her during her breaks.

Just when I thought that hearing my son say he has joined the Marine's was one of the hardest things to deal with it only got more complicated!  I want so badly to fix this for him, but he was deteremined enough to prove that he was an adult, could make an adult decision and, though he knew we were not excited about this path (for a million reasons) that, if this was what he was totally sure was what he wanted, that we would support him and that we were proud of him.

Now I sit there looking at this 18 year old young adult and sigh and shake my head and think, "Boy, if we would only listen to the adults around us that love us we wouldn't get into such messes at 18 years old!" HA!  Remembering all the stupid things I did that, I thought I knew what I was doing... I'm finally an adult.... no one can tell me what to do... and on, and on, and on!

Unlike cutting my apron strings with Alex because of the distance, this one is tougher because he's still living here at home and looking to us for help and guidance... but I need to shove aside the nagging, painful need to "fix this" and just sit back and watch it all play out.

That's it for today.  At this point I probably won't be posting much more about Jared until there are answers or completion...  stay tuned folks!